It’s Personal and It’s Business: Why Great Fitness Leaders Stop Pretending Otherwise

There’s a common belief in the fitness industry that being professional means being emotionally detached. If you care too much, lead with heart or allow your work to feel personal, you’re crossing some invisible line. This episode pushes back on that idea.

No one ends up owning a club, running a studio or leading a team in this industry by accident. There’s always a reason... a moment, passion, personal experience that pulled you in and kept you here. Pretending otherwise doesn’t make you more professional; It usually just makes leadership feel colder than it needs to be.

In this solo episode of Well Run, Annie explores why allowing your “why” to be personal is not only normal, but often the difference between leaders who build strong, loyal teams and those who struggle with disengagement and turnover.

She shares how, earlier in her career, she believed she had to show up a certain way to be taken seriously. More guarded. More neutral. Less human. That approach may have looked polished on the surface, but it created distance and misunderstanding she never intended.

This conversation is about the middle ground many leaders miss. The space where you can lead with who you really are while still holding high standards, clear expectations, and professional boundaries.

You’ll hear reflections on:

• Why “it’s just business” often disconnects leaders from the very reason they started
• How overcorrecting toward professionalism can flatten culture and trust
• What personal leadership actually looks like when it’s done with maturity and discipline
• How to integrate care, accountability, and boundaries without blurring lines
• Why the most successful fitness leaders allow their work to matter to them

This episode is an invitation to stop forcing yourself into leadership molds that don’t fit and start leading in a way that feels aligned, grounded, and sustainable.

In this industry, it’s personal and business

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Oasis Consulting Firm
People-first consulting for luxury health clubs, boutique studios, spas and recovery centers. We help you grow revenue, improve retention, and build teams that last. Founded by Annie Adragna, 20+ years in leadership and executive recruiting across top brands like Life Time, Equinox and Midtown Athletic Clubs.

Work with us: oasisconsultingfirm.co (find ways to work together, schedule a 30-minute call with Annie and grab some free resources there)

Connect:

• Email: annie@oasisconsultingfirm.co
• Instagram: @oasis_consulting_firm
• LinkedIn: Annie Adragna

About Annie:
Founder of Oasis Consulting Firm and host of Well Run Podcast. Consultant, strategist and executive recruiter focused on people-first operations and profitable growth.

Well Run Podcast

In this episode of the Well Run Podcast, Annie Adragna sits down with Victor "V-Man" Verhage, a leading strategist in the recovery, wellness, and longevity space, to explore where member experience is truly headed and why personalization is no longer optional for gyms, studios, and boutique fitness brands.

This conversation looks beyond trends and technology to address a growing reality in the industry: members are overwhelmed, operators are guessing, and retention suffers when experiences are not intentional. Victor shares how integrating DNA data, recovery, wellness, and training into a cohesive ecosystem helps clubs move from reactive programming to personalized journeys members can trust.

Rather than adding more services or chasing the latest modality, this episode focuses on how personalization improves confidence, consistency, and results for members while helping operators create solutions they may not even realize their business needs yet.

Together, Annie and Victor unpack how recovery, sleep, emotional connection, and data-informed decisions are shaping the next era of fitness and wellness, and why brands that fail to address this shift will struggle to keep members long-term.

This episode is a must-listen for owners and operators who care about retention, differentiation, and building environments members never want to leave.

Key Takeaways

• Why personalization has become a retention necessity in fitness and boutique studios
• How DNA and data can guide safer, more effective training and recovery decisions
• The difference between adding recovery services and building a true wellness ecosystem
• Why emotional connection and trust are central to modern member experience
• How personalization helps solve problems members struggle to articulate

About the Guest

Victor “V-Man” Verhage is a leading strategist in the next evolution of member experience, helping fitness clubs and boutique studios integrate DNA, data, and high-ROI recovery, wellness, and longevity solutions. He champions a future where personalization drives deeper results, stronger retention, and true differentiation in a crowded market. His work empowers operators to transform their spaces into performance-driven wellness ecosystems members never want to leave.

🔗 Learn more: https://www.roiinwellness.com

🔗 Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victor-verhage-77175014/

Send us a text

Oasis Consulting Firm
People-first consulting for luxury health clubs, boutique studios, spas and recovery centers. We help you grow revenue, improve retention, and build teams that last. Founded by Annie Adragna, 20+ years in leadership and executive recruiting across top brands like Life Time, Equinox and Midtown Athletic Clubs.

Work with us: oasisconsultingfirm.co (find ways to work together, schedule a 30-minute call with Annie and grab some free resources there)

Connect:

• Email: annie@oasisconsultingfirm.co
• Instagram: @oasis_consulting_firm
• LinkedIn: Annie Adragna

About Annie:
Founder of Oasis Consulting Firm and host of Well Run Podcast. Consultant, strategist and executive recruiter focused on people-first operations and profitable growth.

If your staff feels like members can walk all over them and leadership never steps in, this is not a staffing issue. It’s a culture issue.

In this solo episode, Annie breaks down how entitlement gets baked into gym and wellness cultures, why leadership avoidance quietly erodes trust, and what actually needs to happen before staff will feel empowered to hold boundaries with confidence.

This conversation is for owners and operators who want strong member experiences and teams who feel supported, respected, and safe doing their jobs.

What We Cover in This Episode

• Why “the customer is always right” has damaged team culture in service-based businesses
• The critical difference between a member’s perception being real and their behavior being acceptable
• How leadership avoidance turns into a cultural norm, not just a leadership flaw
• Why staff stop enforcing standards when they don’t feel protected
• How long-standing entitlement impacts trust, confidence, and retention
• Why leadership has to go first before expecting staff to handle tough situations
• Real-world examples from the front desk and the fitness floor
• What effective education and training around tough conversations actually looks like
• How to reset expectations without alienating members
• Creating a true win-win-win for members, staff, and leadership

Key Takeaways

• Entitlement is not a personality trait. It’s a learned behavior.
• Staff will not care about new expectations until they know leadership cares about them.
• Culture is shaped by what leadership tolerates and what leadership models.
• Training only sticks when it’s reinforced by visible leadership behavior.
• Boundaries can be firm, respectful, and human at the same time.

Referenced in This Episode

• The New Gold Standard by Joseph A. Michelli
  A look at how the Ritz-Carlton empowers staff to uphold standards while treating everyone with dignity and respect.

Want Support With This?

Tough conversations do not have to feel combative or awkward. Annie offers training for leadership teams and staff, both in-person and virtual, designed to build confidence, consistency, and trust across the entire organization.

If this episode hit close to home, send a message or reach out to start the conversation.

About the Podcast

Well Run is a podcast for gym owners, operators, and wellness leaders who want to build profitable businesses without sacrificing their people or their values. Short, direct conversations about leadership, culture, retention, and what it really takes to run a healthy operation.

Send us a text

Oasis Consulting Firm
People-first consulting for luxury health clubs, boutique studios, spas and recovery centers. We help you grow revenue, improve retention, and build teams that last. Founded by Annie Adragna, 20+ years in leadership and executive recruiting across top brands like Life Time, Equinox and Midtown Athletic Clubs.

Work with us: oasisconsultingfirm.co (find ways to work together, schedule a 30-minute call with Annie and grab some free resources there)

Connect:

• Email: annie@oasisconsultingfirm.co
• Instagram: @oasis_consulting_firm
• LinkedIn: Annie Adragna

About Annie:
Founder of Oasis Consulting Firm and host of Well Run Podcast. Consultant, strategist and executive recruiter focused on people-first operations and profitable growth.